Auto insurance rates in Massachusetts are climbing higher. Drivers are starting to see their premiums go up four years after rates dropped when the state partially de-regulated the auto insurance business. WAMC's Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill reports.
Many of the largest auto insurance companies doing business in Massachusetts have raised rates in each of the last two years. The insurers are faced with rising costs for claims from car crashes, thefts and injuries, according to James Harrington, of the Massachusetts Insurance Federation.
Major insurance companies have raised rates by a median of 4 .3 percent so far this year, after a median increase of 4.5percent last year, according to an analysis of industry data by the Boston Globe.
Harrington said the rate increases in Massachusetts mirror what's happening in the rest of the country.
The auto insurance rate hikes in Massachusetts are not excessive, in the opinion of Barbara Anthony, who heads the state’s Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation.
Auto insurance rates used to be set by state regulators .That allowed for little price variation from company to company. But, four years ago the Patrick administration ushered in what it called managed competition. A dozen additional companies started selling auto insurance in the state, and prices varied.
Anthony, the state’s top consumer official, urges people to shop for the best deal they can find on car insurance.
Deirde Cummings, the legislative director for the consumer organization, MassPIRG contends managed competition has mostly benefited the insurance companies and well to do drivers who can combine insurance policies for their homes and vehicles to qualify for deep discounts.
Cummings doubts there will be any attempt to re-regulate auto insurance rates.
Over insurance industry objections the state legislature kept an independent board in place to hear driver appeals over who was at fault in a crash, and it banned the use of credit scores to set insurance rates.
